Sophomore STEVEN CALISE broke away from the 201-man field at 2 ½ miles to win the Southern California Regional Championships in 20:03 over the mostly rolling dirt trail course. Although Steven went with the leaders at the gun, his teammates grouped together too conservatively back in the pack and spent the entire race working their way up through the large field on the narrow course. RIO ENOMOTO eventually worked his way up to 23rd (20:45) with teammates ALEX GORNEY (71st @ 21:24), JON FLORES (76th @ 21:25), and NOAH LOPEZ (92nd @ 21:40) rounding out the scoring five with 257 points in 9th place. Although still safely qualifying for the State Championships, we were capable of a Top 5 performance had we been more aggressive at the start. Teams in front of us were 8th Saddleback (252), 7th Rio Hondo (241), 6th Riverside (216), 5th Cerritos (214), 4th Mt. SAC (212), 3rd San Diego Mesa (126, 2nd Orange Coast (105), and winner San Bernardino (52). With the addition of a few solid teams from the North in the State Championships (San Francisco, American River , Sequoias, and Fresno ) and sophomore AARON BROWN back in the line-up, we are going to do our best to put ourselves in a position to place higher than our Regional finish.

Sophomore COURTNEY STEPHENS was slowed by a severe side-stitch but still managed a 47th place finish in 19:34 over the 5,000 meter course to safely qualify to the State Championships. Teammate freshman NAOMI ALTAMIRANO was right behind in 51st @ 19:39 to also safely qualify to the State Championships. Glendale College went on to win the team title (68 pts) over 2nd place Southwestern (77) and Orange Coast (79).

The State Community College Championships will be held Saturday November 22nd at Woodward Park ; Fresno .

El Camino is coming off a number of fine years in the State Championships with the Women placing 3rd and the Men 8th in 2008. In 2007, the Women were 4th with the Men 3rd matching their 3rd place performance from 2006.

OUR BEST to all of the high school and university programs moving into their Championship Races and to everyone for the continued support this season!

SOUTH COAST CONFERENCE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Friday October 31st; Columbia Park , Torrance

Cerritos , Compton , East LA, El Camino , LA City, LA Southwest, LA Trade Tech, Long Beach , Mt. SAC , Pasadena

The EL CAMINO MEN’S Team placed 2nd to MT. SAC in the always-strong South Coast Conference Championships on Friday over the 4-mile course at Columbia Park. El Camino’s STEVEN CALISE took the lead at the mile and progressively extended his lead in winning his 2nd consecutive SCC Title in a time of 20:58 over the rather slow, mostly thick grass course. Placing in the Top 10 were teammates RIO ENOMOTO in 8th (21:42) and ALEX GORNEY in 10th (21:46). Rounding out the Top 7 for ECC were 18th place NOAH LOPEZ (22:05), 21st place JOEY BIANCHI (22:10), 22nd place DANIEL VARON (22:12), and 29th place JON FLORES (22:34). With three in the Top 5 (2, 3, & 5) followed by their 12th and 17th place finishers, MT SAC won the Team title 39 to 58. Cerritos placed 3rd at 70 points with LA Trade Tech 94, East LA 109, Pasadena 173, Long Beach 190, and Compton 254. The top 5 teams advance to the Southern California Regional Championships this Friday.

For the WOMEN, Cerritos College won the Team Title in a tight battle with Mt. SAC 31-42. El Camino’s COURTNEY STEPHENS placed a solid 4th with her time of 19:15 over the mostly thick grass 3.1 mile (5,000m) course. Teammate NAOMI ALTAMIRANO placed 14th in 20:03 as both qualified for the Southern California Regional Championships to be held this Friday in Bakersfield ’s Kern County Soccer Complex. This season, the ECC Women’s Team was unable to match their previous two consecutive Conference Titles from 2007 (3rd in State) and 2006 (4th in State).

The Southern California Regional Championships will be contested this Friday at the Kern County Soccer Complex in Bakersfield . The Top 14 teams and Top 25 Individuals not on a qualifying team will advance to the State Championships to be held at Woodward Park; Fresno on Saturday November 22nd.

Thanks for your continued support and our best to all of you!

SANTA BARBARA CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL

Saturday 10-18-08 @ Leadbetter Beach ; Santa Barbara

The El Camino Men’s team placed 3rd with 111 points in Saturday’s competitive 20-team field. Riverside won with 52 points in front of College of Sequoias 77 points in 2nd. Other South Coast Conference teams included 7th place Cerritos (182), 8th place LA Trade Tech (208), 12th place East LA (385), and 15th place Pasadena (409).

Sophomore STEVEN CALISE led ECC with his 2nd place effort in 22:21 over the slow sandy, grassy course. Steve was comfortably in the lead at 2 ½ miles when he was led off course and spent the rest of the race making up for it. A tight pack of his teammates followed led by frosh RIO ENOMOTO (21st in 23:06); frosh JOEY BIANCHI (25th in 23:11); soph JON FLORES (27th in 23:17); and soph ALEX GORNEY (36th 23:26) who was tripped-up twice in the first mile and was last in the race at one point.

For the Women, sophomore COURTNEY STEPHENS continued her solid season placing 10th in the large 160 athlete field with her time of 19:36 on the relatively slow course. Orange Coast ’s Crystal Reed won by over 150 yards in 18:20 over 2nd place Katie Dunn’s ( Glendale ) 18:54. Frosh NAOMI ALTAMIRANO ran solidly in 29th place at 20:25.

Full results can be found at www.gocollegetrack.com

The next competition will be the South Coast Conference Championships to be held Friday Oct 31st at Columbia Park Torrance. The South Coast Conference is comprised of Mt. SAC, El Camino, Cerritos, East LA, Long Beach, Pasadena, LA Trade Tech, LA City College, and Compton College. The conference championships will determine teams and individuals advancing to the Southern California Regional Championships to be held in Bakersfield ’s Kern County Soccer Complex on Friday November 7th.

Our best to all of you and hope to see you soon!

SO CAL CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW MEET 10-03-08 @ Bakersfield

The El Camino Men placed 4th (171 pts) out of 36 full teams on the course that will be the site of the late season's Southern California Championships. Orange Coast won with 92, American River (Norther Cal) 2nd @ 129, and Mt SAC 3rd @ 159. Other South Coast Conference schools included 9th place Cerritos (313), 15th place East LA (428), 23rd place LA Trade Tech 565), and 28th place Long Beach (730).

Soph STEVEN CALISE led El Camino with his 6th place effort (20:45) in the field of 365 runners. Grouping behind him were frosh RIO ENOMOTO in 24th (21:18), soph ALEX GORNEY in 38th (21:36), frosh JOEY BIANCHI in 44th (21:39), and soph AARON BROWN in 62nd (21:59) on the rolling, mostly soft dirt trail, 4-mile course. A few of the men felt they did not have particularly good races (Calise, Gorney, Brown) but were were tight enough in the large field to place respectably as a team.

Soph COURTNEY STEPHENS ran well in the large field of 260 runners in placing 18th in 19:29 on the 5,000 meter course. Frosh NAOMI ALTAMIRANO, coming off a slight calf strain, placed 101st in 21:49 on the rolling dirt trail course.

FOOTHILL INVITATIONAL

Men: Fourth place finish in the Foothill Invitational out of 15 teams. The ECC Men are currently ranked 5th in Southern California.

Women: Courtney Stephens placed 4th in 18:53 for the 5,000 m course.

ORANGE COAST CLASSIC 9-21-08 @ Fairview Park - Costa Mesa

Twenty-seven teams from Southern California competed Saturday at the OCC Classic including six of the top 10 men’s teams and seven of the top 10 women’s teams.

For the MEN, El Camino’s STEVEN CALISE WON the race in 20:08 - an El Camino best–ever on this course eclipsing the 1995 mark held by All-American Humberto Sanchez. In 13th place was ALEX GORNEY @ 20:45 placing him 7th on the ECC All-Time list for this 4-mile course.

These two front-runners helped lead ECC to a decent 5th place finish (136 pts) in the large field. Two-time defending State Champions San Bernardino Valley College won with a mere 44 points. MT SAC placed 2nd (100) with Orange Coast 3rd (106) and Riverside slipping by in 4th (128). ECC’s 3rd man today was AARON BROWN in 34th (21:25) followed by RIO ENOMOTO in 39th (21:32) and JOEY BIANCHI in 50th (21:44) rounding out our five scorers. Daniel Varon, one of our last competitions top 5, was forced to drop back due to a cramp in his calf. Coming off a Southern California ranking of 4th last week, the men moved back one spot and are currently ranked 5th in Southern California (www.gocollegetrack.com).

On the WOMEN’s side, Orange Coast College won (49pts) in a close battle with Cerritos (62) and Mt SAC (67 pts). El Camino sophomore COURTNEY STEPHENS ran near the lead pack while finishing in 13th place in the 173 runner field. Her time of 20:18 on the 3.2 mile course places her 4th on the ECC All-Time list for this course.

Freshman NAOMI ALTAMIRANO placed 37th in 21:27 placing her 9th on the ECC All-Time list for this course.

El Camino travels to the Foothill Invitational this Saturday to be held at Prado Park in Chino Hills. San Bernardino Valley College is hosting so the men will once again square-off against the defending State Champions.

Thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing you out there somewhere!

16007 Crenshaw Blvd. Torrance, CA 90506
Phone: 1.310.532.3670 Toll Free:1.866.ELCAMINO (1.866.352.2646)

Last Updated On: 11/18/08